Hello all,

It’s been rather a long time since my last blog update.  In all honesty, I’ve been busy and haven’t been competing at all so there has been little to blog about.  That is until now.

Over the last few months I have been contemplating what to do for my next fundraising challenge.  The Ironman, which was now over a year ago, was a big deal.  No doubt about it, taking myself from couch potato to Ironman was one hell of a journey.  Thanks to the incredible generosity of my friends, family, and some complete strangers we managed to raise enough money to pay for a day at Chestnut Tree House, over £7,300.

This was a while ago now, so it’s time for the next challenge.  “What challenge have you chosen”, I can almost hear you shouting at your screens.  Well as the blog title implies, I have decided to run 13 marathons in 12 months.

Starting at Brighton Marathon 2017, I will complete a marathon every month, ending at Brighton Marathon 2018.  Brighton Marathon is a big event for Chestnut, so it seemed the right place to start and end the challenge.

Beautiful Winchester Cathedral

On top of that, just to make things a little more difficult, I have decided to throw a 55 mile Ultramarathon into the mix.  This will be in June 2017.  I have chosen the Race to the King.  I will be competing in the 1 day option at this race, quite literally running 55 miles non stop.  The race takes place across the South Downs, from near Arundel to Winchester Cathedral.  It is going to be hilly.  VERY hilly.

So that’s the challenge.  Simple really.  12 marathons at 26.2 miles each plus a 55 mile Ultra equals 369.4 miles of running if I just account for the racing.  Obviously there will be miles and miles of training too, so it is likely that I will probably run around 1500 miles throughout this challenge.  To put this into perspective, that is from London to Moscow.

As any of you who have regularly followed my blog will know, running is by far my weakest discipline when it comes to triathlon.  This is why I have chosen this challenge.  If I am ever going to become a better triathlete I have to get my running times down.  13 marathons in 12 months should help me to do that!

I also wanted to do something big.  Something that would inspire people to donate to the charity that I care so much about.  I feel this challenge is a fairly big one.

Over the next few months I will be altering the blog site and relevant Facebook accounts to reflect this move away from triathlon towards running.  I will still be going out on the bike, though not half as much as before.  I might even go for an occasional swim. But what I will mostly be doing is running.  A LOT of running.

It is also my plan to keep you all up to date as I book up events for this challenge.  So far I have booked the following.

April 2017 – Brighton Marathon
May 2017 – Three Forts Challenge – a 27 mile race across the South Downs taking in 3 Iron Age forts (this one is going to hurt).

Nothing else booked yet, as the Race to the King doesn’t open until the end of September.  Just to get me warmed up, I am also racing at Beachy Head Marathon at the end of October (but this was pre-booked and is nothing to do with the challenge).

That is really all I have to say for myself right now.  I will sign off with a few pictures of me running in a snowman costume at the recent Chestnut Tree House Littlehampton 10k.  The two guys you can see next to me (also in fancy dress) are Mark Ward and Dave Chapman.  Both very dedicated Chestnut fundraisers in their own right, and jolly nice chaps to boot.  Both will be with me at the Brighton Marathons, and I am hoping to talk them into one or two of the others.

TTFN.

Snooky